Wednesday, January 16

just in: cartoonists declare jihad on comedy central

[From a release]:

Syndicated political cartoonists Ted Rall and Matt Bors will issue cartoons ridiculing two figures generally revered by liberals for their political humor: Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert of "The Colbert Report."

Despite not making a deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, Stewart and Colbert have returned to their shows — without writers — in a move that has generated little to no criticism from the liberal press.

Rall and Bors, who write and draw all their own material and are not members of the Writers Guild, decided to team up and deliver a one-two punch, with each of them taking on one of the Comedy Central hosts in cartoons issued by their respective syndicates on the night of Thursday, January 17. The cartoons will also be available at their websites, tedrall.com and mattbors.com.

"One naturally hesitates before unleashing the fearsome power of Rall and Bors," said Bors and Rall, "but the stakes are too high, the issues too important, the hypocrisy too hypocritical for us to just put down our pens and tune in to their union-busting, albeit highly amusing, programs."

Rall's cartoon imagines rough-and-tumble union members from 1938 traveling through a wormhole to encounter Jon Stewart, whom they identify as a "scab." The comic ends with Stewart being carried away on a stretcher after being violently beaten. "Stewart's wry, vaguely left-of-center wit fails to register with the visitors from a more straightforward time," Rall writes in the comic.

"Progressives shouldn't let these scabs off the hook, no matter how hilarious they are," said Rall. "The War on Snarkism starts now!"

Bors' comic deals with Colbert in a parody of his popular segment "The Wørd." This time the word is "Scab" with Colbert remarking, "Writers may be able to hang out all day on their air conditioned sidewalks, but I have a mouth to feed, folks!" while the screen informs us of his ego's lunch-break demands. It's something you could almost imagine Colbert saying, with Bors turning the faux-right-wing persona back on the host.

"They have no integrity, no morals, and no guts," Bors huffed. "They're funny, sure, but not ha-ha funny. Not after this."

Ted Rall's cartoons are distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, while Matt Bors' work is distributed through United Feature Syndicate. They each draw three cartoons a week.

Neither Rall nor Bors will be available for appearances on either of the shows while the strike remains in effect. "We'd rather fight in Bush's wars than cross a picket line," they said in unison.

The Caucus

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Off The Bus on HuffingtonPost.com

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